Full tasting notes and assessments of the Bordeaux 2006 tastings at En Primeur will be posted on decanter.com next week. The following is an overview of the vintage by Decanter's tasting team
Graves/Pessac
While some of the reds show decent fruit and some ripe, grippy tannins, they are generally a mixed bag: the jury is out on overall quality. But the whites – with the extraordinarily peachy, perfumed, creamy and powerful Laville Haut Brion the undisputed champion – are a better proposition altogether. According to Decanter critics Beverley Blanning and Serena Sutcliffe, they are marked by racy acidity and could turn out to be really fine. They will settle down and become more rounded in time after barrel age. Blanning was very impressed, though Sutcliffe, while recognising the quality of the top wines, felt more should have reached that level – 'there were still some wines which didn't hit the heights they should have. They had no excuses this year - the conditions were perfect.'
St Emilion
Not as successful as its neighbour. St-Emilion is considered ‘patchy’, where Sutcliffe picked up 'many wines which were over-extracted’. As with the rest of Bordeaux there are stand out wines - like Ausone - but the verdict on the region as a whole is nothing to write home about. ‘The best wines will come from the best terroir,’ James Lawther says. ‘And it’s a vintage about money: when the rains came you had to move fast as the rot set in quickly, so you had to have access to the workforce to get the grapes in.’ Over-extraction is also a danger, and micro oxygenation machines might well have been rolled out to soften tannins and loosen greenness. Properties on the limestone plateau and on the Cotes did best.
Pomerol
‘Pomerol could well be the success story of the 2006 vintage,’ James Lawther says. ‘The fact that it was widely lauded as the star of the Right Bank doesn’t mean it’s a brilliant year (more good to very good) but that harvest conditions in this earlier ripening zone were as near to optimum as anywhere in Bordeaux. This was also a year where terroir played its part, top estates on the warmer gravels of the plateau producing the outstanding wines. These are gently aromatic (red fruits), full-bodied (13-14° alcohol) but balanced by a refreshing zip of acidity and pronounced minerality. Growers are making comparisons with 2001. Fronsac delighted many tasters – great ripeness, solid, enduring tannins.
Sauternes
Generally unsuccessful. Both David Peppercorn and Stephen Brook said they were disappointed by wines lacking acidity and grip, and often short on fruit. Some stand-out properties (de Malle, Doisy-Daene, Rieussec, Rabaud Promis, Guiraud, Haut Peyreguay) failed to lift what everyone admits was a difficult vintage. ‘Botrytis was very patchy,’ Eric Larroma at Lafaurie Peyraguey. The rain in August made ‘very severe selection’ necessary. ‘ As ever this year, those who worked hardest – and spent the most money – in the vineyard did best. Finally, those who tasted the barrels at Chateau Climens (the wine is never assembled for en primeur) pronounced it outstanding.
Medoc
Margaux looks strong (though Steven Spurrier was lukewarm), and is the most consistent in what is quite a heterogenous vintage – it had rich wines, but nicely balanced, with notable freshness. Both Spurrier and Blanning lauded its consistency. Spurrier loved St Julien. Blanning was impressed with Pauillac, which had 'density of fruit and freshness'. The Cabernet was particularly fresh on the left bank, where late rains actually helped dilute some of the tough, small berry fruit which a dry summer had induced - however this was only the case in those estates which could afford to de-leaf, green harvest, and avoid rot. In a mixed vintage, it is – predictably – the star names which have produced the starry wines. 2006 called for a much more skilled approach than 2005, when 'any fool could make a great wine' according to Pichon Baron's winemaker. Paul Pontallier of Chateau Margaux said freshness was a 'characteristic of the vintage', giving wines which had similar freshness and aromatic purity to 04 but with more density. He said the Cabernet (90%) was so good, he could barely find room for the Merlot (4%) in the grand vin. Above all it was an expensive vintage: Frederic Engerer at Latour said the 2006 harvest as a whole cost 60% more than last year.
Weather conditions
See also our 2006 harvest reports
Generally speaking, it all went well until August. Budburst occurred in late March with flowering starting in early June – much the same as 2005. Veraison occurred in the last week of June. July was sunny, dry and hot. August, however, was dull, overcast, humid and despite a few scattered showers, produced little rain. While the beginning of September heralded a return to warm, hot days, the storms arrived just at the start of picking, causing many a gamble and many a furrowed brow.
Below are the comparisons of monthly temperature, rainfall and sunshine in 2006 with the 30-year average.
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